Ｄｅｂａｔｅ ｏｎ Ｇｌｏｂａｌ Ｉｍｐａｃｔ ｏｆ ＥＵ Ｅｎｌａｒｇｅｍｅｎｔ Ｈｅｌｄ ｉｎ Ｇｕａｎｇｚｈｏｕ

On the afternoon of April 27， the CPAFFC， the China- EU Association (CEUA)， the Guangdong Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (GPPAFFC) and the Delegation of the European Commission of the European Union jointly held a debate on the global impact brought about by the 15+10 enlargement of European Union in Zhongshan University， Guangzhou.

In his speech， CPAFFC President Chen Haosu， on behalf of the CEUA， expressed his congratulation on the 5th enlargement of the EU——another milestone in the cause of the integration of Europe. He said， the process of European integration is conducive to peace， stability and prosperity in Europe and the world at large， and its experience is worth learning by Asia and other regions.

Klaus Abermann， EU ambassador to China， said， the eastward enlargement of the EU this time will facilitate China and Europe to develop political， economic， trade， cultural and social relations. He stressed that China and Europe should learn experience from each other in their cooperation. He also expressed his thanks to the CEUA for what it had done for the successful holding of the debate.

Four Chinese and European experts stated their views on the problems and impact brought about by the EU eastward enlargement， had a heated debate and answered the audience’s questions. Stanley Crossick， an European expert and director of the Centre of European Policies， summed up the process of the integration of Europe as “unity through diversity”， and stressed that different countries should enhance mutual understanding and strengthen cooperation through exchanges so as to achieve win-win results.

About 150 people from various circles in Guangdong attended the debate presided over by Ji Bin， secretary general of the CEUA. Hu Wei， vice president of the GPPAFFC， attended and spoke at the debate.

After the end of the Cold War， Central and Eastern European countries wanted to “return” to Europe one after another. Many countries applied to join the European Union. In 1990 Cyprus and Malta formally applied to join the EU. Thus came the EU’s 5th and the largest enlargement since its founding. In 1993 at the Copenhagen Summit Meeting of the EU three standards for admitting new members were laid down and political， economic and legal conditions for joining the EU were made clear， thus starting the process of the enlargement. After about 10 years’ hard negotiation between the EU and candidate countries， on November 18， 2002， it was decided that May 1， 2004 would be the date for formally admitting the first batch of new EU member countries namely: Cyprus， Czech， Estonia， Hungary， Latvia， Lithuania， Malta， Poland， Slovak and Slovenia. In December 2002 at the Summit Meeting of the EU in Copenhagen this date was finally confirmed and the time (the year 2007) for admitting the second batch of new member countries (Bulgaria and Romania) was set. It was also decided at the meeting that the progress of human rights and democracy in Turkey would be evaluated in December 2004， so as to decide whether to start the negotiation with Turkey about its accession to the EU. On April 16， 2003 the heads of the original 15 EU member countries and 10 new member countries signed the Treaty of Accession to the EU in Athens.

The EU is an important force in the process of multi-polarity of the world and the economic globalization. The enlargement of the EU will exert important impact on the security and stability of Europe as well as the whole world， and bring obvious economic and political benefits to the EU and its new member countries as well. The enlargement will also change the political balance within the EU， which is， no doubt， a serious challenge to the current mechanism and policy of the EU.